Roy Bradford

Roy Bradford (7 July 1921 - 2 September 1998) was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland and a government minister in both the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973.

Born in Ligoniel, Bradford studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College Dublin. He then worked in British Army intelligence before moving to London, where he worked for the BBC and ITV. In 1960, he published a novel, "Excelsior"."Bradford, Roy", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"]

At the Northern Ireland general election, 1965, Bradford was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Belfast Victoria. In 1966 he became Assistant Chief Whip, then in 1968, Chief Whip. From 1969, he was the Minister of Commerce, then from 1971 to 72, Minister of Development.

At the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973, Bradford was elected in Belfast East, and was the head of the Department of the Environment. He stood unsuccessfully in North Down at the February 1974 UK general election. He followed Brian Faulkner into the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, but in June, he returned to the UUP. He was not elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.

In 1982, Bradford completed a second novel, "Last Ditch", and in 1989, he was elected to North Down Borough Council where he joined his wife Hazel in the UUP group. He worked as a journalist and also served as Mayor of North Down.

Bradford's son, Conor, is a presenter on BBC Northern Ireland.

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